N-installations put on alert after terrorists nabbed

The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) on Saturday put all nuclear installations in the country on alert after a multi-state terror crackdown indicated that nuke facilities were on the radar of terror suspects linked to the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI).

The alert came after the Karnataka terror probe was widened and anti-terror squads (ATS) arrested four suspects in Nanded, Maharashtra, and one in Hyderabad. Karnataka police had on Thursday arrested 11 suspects after an intelligence input from Andhra Pradesh.

“We have issued a general alert to our teams,” CISF director general Rajiv told HT. The CISF has about a dozen nuclear installations under its charge.

On Saturday, the home ministry confirmed that the Karnataka terror suspects had a defence establishment and a nuclear installation on their radar. The Kaiga Atomic Power Station, 550km from Bangalore, was the first to raise its security.

The Maharashtra ATS had on Friday seized two foreign-made revolvers and 14 rounds of ammunition from the four accused in Nanded, identified as Mohammed Akram, Mohammed Illyas, Mohammed Muzzamil and Mohammed Sadiq.

“We will check if the foreign-made revolvers recovered are similar to those found in Karnataka,” said an ATS officer.

ATS sources said the suspects had their passports ready, and were possibly in the process of leaving the country.

“It is too early to draw any conclusion about the linkages of the accused. The interrogation is on,” said additional director general of police (ATS) Rakesh Maria.